“I mean, we’re all prejudiced in one way or another,” he said. “If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. And if on that side of the street there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face – white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere – I’m walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes we all live up to and are fearful of.”

This, of course, set off the usual alarm bells with our nation’s keepers of the watchful flame of racial tensions. Finally they had it on the record. Mark Cuban is obviously a racist! Sure, some of the chief monitors of all thing race card related, such as Travis Waldron at Check Your Privilege Central, were willing to slide a smidgen of credit toward Cuban for admitting he’s a despicable monster, but he still had to ask The Big Question: does he still cross the street?

This brings up two questions – one relatively minor and the other having more far reaching implications – which merit attention.

First, and of far less import, is a question of sartorial style. Since when does the entire planet apparently owe a mea culpa to the legacy of Trayvon Martin for saying hoodie? I’ve got news for you.. the rest of the world is still allowed to talk about people wearing hoodies in whatever context they wish. If they are common in high crime areas and you find them unsettling, you are free to be unsettled. (As a startling side note, I have a black hoodie and wear it every spring and fall. It has a graphic of a loon on it – I mean the bird, not Nancy Pelosi – and I find it comfortable. But I’m sure I’m unsettling to a lot of people also.)

But the second, and larger issue here has to do with this fundamental concept of people crossing the street. I was reminded of a rather eerie parallel while reading the interview conducted by Don Lemon which I linked above. For the last couple of years I’ve had to do a lot of traveling in the “deep South” as it’s called – particularly through the Appalachian Mountains – and gotten to know some of these areas pretty well. I’ve learned that once you get outside the clearly defined borders of a couple of cities down there you immediately enter into more mountainous, less populated areas which some natives affectionately refer to as the hollers, or simply, out in the county.

There are, to assign a charitable name, “towns” out in some of these backwaters, populated almost entirely by white people. Small collections of houses and trailers are interrupted by the occasional dimly lit bar with country music blaring out the windows and a collection of bikes and pickup trucks with gun racks and frequent confederate flag NRA (Edit *) bumper stickers in the parking lot. I find myself wondering… if Marc Lamont Hill or Sunny Hostin had the misfortune of encountering car trouble in one of these hamlets and found themselves walking toward a service station past one of these bars where some guys with Duck Dynasty beards were hanging outside swilling Budweisers, would they cross the street? And if so, would that make them racists?

Conversely, we have areas near me, even in the “blue” regions of upstate New York, where what we laughably refer to as “cities” contain neighborhoods which generate a lot of law enforcement issues. The cops are there all the time and the police blotters ring up unseemly numbers of busts for drugs, assaults, prostitution and theft. And, yes, they are almost entirely populated by minorities on any given evening. Then I look at the picture of Travis Waldron, who reminds me somewhat of myself at a younger age, mostly for seeming to have the street cred of a Miracle Whip sandwich on Wonder Bread. If Travis were wandering through one of these neighborhoods on a Saturday night and approaching a group of young black men in hoodies standing on the corner, would he rush up and ask, “Say! Would you fellas like to tip off to Starbucks with me, slip on some pajamas, drink some hot cocoa and rap about the future of race relations in America?”

Or might he cross the street as well? If it was me in that situation, I wouldn’t be crossing the street. I’d be turning around and exiting as quickly as possible because I’d have made a very wrong turn at some point in my travels. This isn’t a question of prejudice. It’s an issue of common sense and self-preservation. And this entire conversation about Mark Cuban and his so-called racist tendencies is a farce. But as a businessman, Cuban clearly has learned that you can’t go around saying something obvious if it’s politically unpalatable to the Left. That’s just bad for business.

EDIT: (Jazz) A commenter pointed out that in the hypothetical example above, the presence of confederate flag bumper stickers could carry a connotation of racism. I tend to disagree since, having spent a fair amount of time in the South, I’ve become friends with several people who proudly fly the stars and bars but are about as far from being racists as one could imagine. They’re just proud of their Southern heritage. Still, rather than provide fodder to those seeking to derail the conversation, I would substitute NRA stickers. If you choose to next argue that being a member of the National Rifle Association somehow carries with it an implicit charge of racism, feel free, but I’ll pretty much have stopped listening by that point.

Blowback

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You may very well be right about coolrepublica’s motivation in all of this, bimmcorp.

I just wanted to let it be known that this argument about it being “society’s fault” directed solely at people who are black for no other reason than because they are black just doesn’t even come close to holding true.

But it always hurts me when I watch these young mamas just settle for living within the system. Many of them are capable of so much more, and it would do their children good to see them strive for more.

I just watched a short documentary on sharecroppers after the reconstruction in the south and it was clear to me that black folks were never given a decent shot at success after emancipation. Breaking the circle of poverty is very hard, but a great deal of blacks in the south are never going to get out no matter how much they wish it. Since slavery ended, it has been one obstacles after another put in their way. It’s hard to run, if you have to keep going over hurdles.

The only way out of cycle of poverty for blacks is education. But no one want to spend the money. When black folks move to the best schools with whites, they move the F out. So people agree that poor black folks need to do better, but no one wants to actually help them achieve with deeds not just words.

I could go on and on. But I don’t even know if you will get to see any of this.

coolrepublica on May 24, 2014 at 1:34 PM

Aren’t you the guys who’ve doubled school spending in real terms over the past 40 years, only to have it all go to teachers and staff, and none to improved educational experiences?

I have a really tiny violin I play for your type. My grandfather came from Sicily as a teenager, and died mining coal in Pennsylvania so you could have heat in the winter and Americans of all stripes could run their factories and make things. He was a firm believer in “up by your bootstraps” so to speak, and there are plenty of blacks who have come up by their bootstraps and made firm middle class lives for themselves and their children.

But you are right — there is a power that oppresses blacks — and blacks tend to vote for that power. Here’s Condi Rice on the situation:

We have been successful too because Americans have known that one’s status of birth is not a permanent condition. Americans have believed that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you can control your response to your circumstances.

And your greatest ally in controlling your response to your circumstances has been a quality education. But today, today, when I can look at your zip code and I can tell whether you’re going to get a good education, can I honestly say it does not matter where you came from, it matters where you are going? The crisis in K-12 education is a threat to the very fabric of whom we are.

My mom was a teacher. I respect the profession. We need great teachers, not poor ones and not mediocre ones. We have to have high standards for our kids, because self-esteem comes from achievement, not from lax standards and false praise.

And we need to give parents greater choice, particularly, particularly poor parents whose kids, very often minorities, are trapped in failing neighborhood schools. This is the civil rights issue of our day.

If we do anything less, we can damage generations to joblessness and hopelessness and life on the government dole. If we do anything less, we will endanger our global imperatives for competitiveness. And if we do anything less, we will tear apart the fabric of who we are and cement the turn toward entitlement and grievance.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will rebuild us at home. And they will help us lead abroad. They will provide an answer to the question, “where does America stand?” The challenge is real and the times are hard. But America has met and overcome hard challenges before.

You guys voted for the enemy of all of this good thinking. You guys have made yourselves into victims. Go stew in your own juices for a bit. It’s a great penance.

I certainly agree, and that is why I detest the ‘progressive liberals’. They truly are vile in their motives as well as their success in keeping the black segment of our society in chains. The real sad part of it is that many black people lack the skills and the education to even consider that they are being used like chattel. People like Charles Payne and Dr. Ben Carson rose above their situation and are living proof that America IS the land of opportunity, provided we be willing to apply ourselves and put off today’s pleasure for the rewards of tomorrow. We cannot help those who refuse to help themselves.

I don’t know why my reply hasn’t passed moderation. The question was, what, “in my learned opinion”, I think the Confederate Flag represents. The answer is: it represents the Confederate Constitution, which thought slavery was so important it was guaranteed to be preserved twice.

I don’t know why my reply hasn’t passed moderation. The question was, what, “in my learned opinion”, I think the Confederate Flag represents. The answer is: it represents the Confederate Constitution, which thought slavery was so important it was guaranteed to be preserved twice.

PBH on May 24, 2014 at 8:25 PM

And that is why I requested that you follow this link and learn something instead of spewing out garbage regarding a subject you are clearly ignorant of. Doubtful that you will bother, though.

Sure it does, Sonny. You are simply too intellectually dishonest as to actually read the explanation and understand what the Confederacy was all about nor what the actual meaning of the flag of that nation represents. People such as you are narrow minded, simple minded drones, who have absolutely no desire nor curiosity to explore the rich history of our nation, nor the seek to understand important events and matters that shaped the nation we are today. In short…you are a simpleton…a liberal…and a waste of my time. Enjoy your ignorance, Son. I’m through with you now. Good night, and God Bless…

I enjoy going to the left coast and telling the superior intellects where I live and watching their eyes glaze over as they try to place it on the map. They couldn’t come close if I narrowed it down to the Eastern Time Zone but they love to elect liberals to kill the coal industry and our economy, then DVR ‘Moonshiners’ and laugh at us.

I don’t know why my reply hasn’t passed moderation. The question was, what, “in my learned opinion”, I think the Confederate Flag represents. The answer is: it represents the Confederate Constitution, which thought slavery was so important it was guaranteed to be preserved twice.
PBH on May 24, 2014 at 8:25 PM

I suppose you also want to discourage displays of the American flag, which also offends people.

I lived in North Carolina for 6 years. I visited SC, GA, FL multiple times. “Standing alone against Northern aggression”. I know you have a clever explanation for this, too. I don’t care to hear it though.

All of this reminds me of “Industrial Disease”, the song by Dire Straits. A song that highlights the absurdity of media-driven maladies like ‘Smoker’s Cough’, ‘Brewer’s Droop’, and the ‘Bette Davis wheeze.’

Except in this case, we should call it “Racial Disease”. The perverse contorting of reality to form a fantasy where your political heroes are attacked in every instance by racists sporting dinner forks.

84% of serial killers are white and male. 84%. Anyone who read this and care about their safety please feel free to avoid all white men. Anyone of them could want to have you on a dinner plate and we should not take that chance.
coolrepublica on May 24, 2014 at 10:48 AM

And 70% of their victims are female. Should a male, assuming their was an obvious serial killer physical trait, avoid them as much as women?

Cuban wasn’t talking about a man trying to protect his neighborhood from a crime wave. Zimmerman broke no laws & was in a place he had aright to be, doing things he had a right to do. He was trying to protect his neighborhood and deserves credit for stepping up.

If Martin had not assaulted Zimmerman, he would still be alive. That is the reality. When you choose to assault a man, you assume the risk he may defend himself with lethal force. That is the reality.

novaculus on May 24, 2014 at 1:26 PM

I guess I’m just to subtle for people to understand.

People are CONDEMNING Mark Cuban for what he said. They are calling it Prejudice and Racist to walk across the street.

But George Zimmerman didn’t make like a Racist and Walk across the street so instead he was a Racist and had a confrontation with Trayvon Martin.

In other words, it’s Heads I Win and Tails You Lose with liberal attitudes.

84% of serial killers are white and male. 84%. Anyone who read this and care about their safety please feel free to avoid all white men. Anyone of them could want to have you on a dinner plate and we should not take that chance.
coolrepublica on May 24, 2014 at 10:48 AM

I’m curious where you got the 84% white male statistic?

Radford University looked at serial killers in the U.S. (and around the world) from 1900 – 2010 and found the following:

During the entire period (1900-2010) the percent of serial killers that were white was 52.4%. However, the most recent three decades (90s, 00s, 10s) the percent that were white fell below 50% (43.1%, 32.4% and 32.8.

The closest the U.S. came to an 84% white serial killer rate (forget white + male) was in the 1950s where 78.7% of the serial killers were white.

If you look at the overall average for white, male serial killers, you only account for 46.12% of the serial killers since 1900 (and your accuracy would be even lower in more recent decades).

On a side note (but interesting all the same), the % of serial killers with no military service is 76.6%. Based on media reports of serial killers, I would have assumed this would be much lower.

I lived in North Carolina for 6 years. I visited SC, GA, FL multiple times. “Standing alone against Northern aggression”. I know you have a clever explanation for this, too. I don’t care to hear it though.

PBH on May 24, 2014 at 9:34 PM

Keep those childish ears covered, Sonny, and go about your business then. Just consider this: Today’s Confederacy would say “Standing alone Against Progressive Aggression”. Same battle..different enemy. You, like most ignorant fools, really believe the Civil War was all about slavery, don’t you. What a jackass.

The question was, what, “in my learned opinion”, I think the Confederate Flag represents. The answer is: it represents the Confederate Constitution, which thought slavery was so important it was guaranteed to be preserved twice. PBH on May 24, 2014 at 8:25 PM

I don’t know why my reply hasn’t passed moderation. The question was, what, “in my learned opinion”, I think the Confederate Flag represents. The answer is: it represents the Confederate Constitution, which thought slavery was so important it was guaranteed to be preserved twice.

PBH on May 24, 2014 at 8:25 PM

First off, what you call the Confederate Flag ISN’T the Confederate flag.

The St. Andrews Cross is the Battle Flag of the Confederate Army.
It is a flag that 90,000 free African-Americans fought under. (Of course since the Confederate Army was NOT segregated, there were no Black units like there were in the Segregated Union Army.)

The St. Andrews Cross never flew over a SINGLE Slave either. The same cannot be said of the Union Flag.

So perhaps you should learn a little bit before you go making pronouncements.

It is a sign of the pervasiveness of the post-personal responsibility culture and its emphasis on passivity and avoidance as the only acceptable self-defense that even conservatives in this thread leap to crossing the street as their primary option when a single indicator of possible trouble arises.
I, on the other hand, take the first common sense social cue, the person’s fashion, as a mere alert to pay attention. Next, I look for facial cues or their concealment, body language, movement style, items the person has, and the general safety or not of the environment. If the one cue is not confirmed, I proceed – knowing I have the right and the capability to defend myself if I have misjudged the situation and that person intends to interfere with me in the public square. Giving ground, being bullied off the sidewalk, becoming a whimp, is not my first choice.
If my continued vigilance finds that the person displays multiple additional warning signs that he/she could overwhelm my abilities, possibly with presently unseen other accomplices, then, and only then, is the escape route the better choice. But that is because I’d rather not have to hurt a person who makes the wrong choice to attack me or my family or friend accompanying me when no provocation has been given.
The idea that at the first and only sign of trouble people should become meek, what we used to call cowardly, and run away, is possibly the result of the removal of the positive male ethos from our schools and so many families. Society’s public opinion leaders looked at how proper ladies were to behave in public,prior to the 1960′s, avoiding any potential danger and awaiting the protection and rescue of men, and contrasted it with how men were to behave, protecting and defending women and children and the vulnerable. Educators and public policy experts decided all people should act like women used to do, and expect the government workers, the police, to take any action, but do nothing themselves as citizens with just as much right to be on the sidewalk as the bad guys. I guess that’s why the backlash is seen in youtube videos of girls beating each other up like boys – the boys who would have stepped in for them in the past, confident in their skills and values, now just want to avoid trouble and crossed to the other side of the street to voyeuristically film it from a safe perch.

So perhaps you should learn a little bit before you go making pronouncements.

jaydee_007 on May 25, 2014 at 12:38 PM

This is what PBH tinks about ‘learnin”…

I lived in North Carolina for 6 years. I visited SC, GA, FL multiple times. “Standing alone against Northern aggression”. I know you have a clever explanation for this, too. I don’t care to hear it though.

Cuban just spoke a truth that polite (i.e., politically correct) society refuses to mention. The truth is that everyone, even those who struggle within themselves to overcome it, have prejudices buried within – every race, every ethnicity, not just white people or Southerners. They may have it all tamped down (or so they think), but something, somewhere, some time, will cause those feelings to bubble to the surface and express themselves in word or deed. The individual may immediately regret this, and determine not to allow it in the future, but it is there nonetheless. The sooner we all honestly face this reality and own up to it, the better. I do not believe we can ever have any honest “conversation” about race in this country until we lay that reality on the table.

Is this where the liberal leftwing moonbats start start trampling on each other, lol. Supporting Obama is tantamount to supporting a known liar!!! Liberals will just have to swallow that at some point because history will not be kind to how democrats allowed liberals/progressives/socialists to change their party doctrine.

1. Defend the Confederation
2. Get to the bottom of how come we can’t call black people n%^*rs, and they can.
3. What IN THE WORLD could convince black people vote for the party with a significant number of people busy working on 1 and 2?

1. Defend the Confederation
2. Get to the bottom of how come we can’t call black people n%^*rs, and they can.
3. What IN THE WORLD could convince black people vote for the party with a significant number of people busy working on 1 and 2?

PBH on May 25, 2014 at 8:27 PM

You are too stupid for words, Needlenose.

1. The Confederation needs no defending
2. No one gives a good crap about what blacks call each other except for you.
3. Who wants to convince black people of anything other than to buck up and be responsible for themselves and quit blaming whitey for all of their problems?

You’re really new at this blogging thing, aren’t you? Because you really suck at it, pal.

Cuban just spoke a truth that polite (i.e., politically correct) society refuses to mention. The truth is that everyone, even those who struggle within themselves to overcome it, have prejudices buried within – every race, every ethnicity, not just white people or Southerners.
justbob223 on May 25, 2014 at 6:25 PM

Prejudice – to Pre Judge
Discernment – to decide based on experience or facts

Statistically speaking what Mark Cuban said is Common Sense, not Prejudice. The odds that someone meeting the descriptive criteria being dangerous to you (either one of them) are far greater than if you see a person wearing an Armani Suit walking down the street.

Cuban bankrolled the fictional but presented as true “Redacted”. He may have later apologized for his involvement, but supporting “Redacted” was still the personification of stupid.

Following the release of “Redacted”, I posted to a blog controlled by Cuban. My son was in Iraq at the time. I stated that any use of his “Redacted” to recruit jihadists who would then kill American military was on his head. My blog was quickly deleted. Looks like Mark thinks that the truth hurts, but since it ain’t lethal to him, delete it.

Stupidly rich, don’t mean you can’t be stupid. Still waiting for you to prove me wrong, Mark.

There is one thing – and probably only one thing – Eric Holder said that I agree with: America is too cowardly to have a discussion on race.

Political correctness has prevented us from discussing (racist) facts:
* 39% of all federal prisoners are black; 34% are Hispanic
* Approximately 50% of all murders are committed by blacks even though they represent less than 15% of the population
* 73% of black babies and 53% of Hispanic babies are born to single mothers
* Black and Hispanic drop-out rates are far higher than whites

Obama and Holder could have benefitted the black community by teaching them about responsibility rather than “blame whity.”

bw222 on May 24, 2014 at 9:02 AM

Thanks for the stats bw22 but what we really want to hear is your conclusion.

Is your conclusion that blacks are irresponsible?

What is your conclusion from these numbers?

coolrepublica

I’d be interested in hearing your conclusion about those numbers ….

Is it your conclusion that those numbers are meaningless?

Is it good that 3 of 4 black babies are born to single mothers? That half of Hispanic babies are? Do you think those numbers meaningful and hold “White America” responsible for them?

Or would you say the statistics are meaningless, that there’s no benefit being born into a two-parent family as opposed to a one-parent one?

“If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. And if on that side of the street there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face – white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere – I’m walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes we all live up to and are fearful of.”

“If I see a black kid in a hoodie and it’s late at night, I’m walking to the other side of the street. And if on that side of the street there’s a guy that has tattoos all over his face – white guy, bald head, tattoos everywhere – I’m walking back to the other side of the street. And the list goes on of stereotypes we all live up to and are fearful of.”

It is a sign of the pervasiveness of the post-personal responsibility culture and its emphasis on passivity and avoidance as the only acceptable self-defense that even conservatives in this thread leap to crossing the street as their primary option when a single indicator of possible trouble arises. ……..

focusfrost on May 25, 2014 at 1:03 PM

Yours is a generally good comment, and I encourage people to read it, but I believe you are wrong on this point. People here who are saying what they would do given the single indicator are assuming the existence of other indicators they think are highly likely to be present given the single indicator already mentioned.

Obviously the single indicator of a black guy in a hoodie or the single indicator of a bald guy with head tattoos wouldn’t drive me to the other side of the street all by themselves. Heck, in either case the ‘punk’ might be someone I know, like the son of a business partner or a friend going for a walk who just happens to be wearing a hoodie because it is sensible cover given the weather. I might cross the street to their side to say “hi.”

Nevertheless, it is a good thing for you to point this out. We weigh many variables whenever we react to anyone. These things are just single variables. Even an agitated black guy wearing a hoodie coming toward me down the sidewalk with a gun in his hand won’t necessarily get me to cross to the other side …. like when he’s an undercover cop with his badge out.

Wearing a hood, mask or disguise is generally perceived as a pre-amble to some criminal act, so as to avoid identification during or after the deed. For example, a bank robbery.

Racism has nothing to do with it, and as it happens, these masks make it hard to know the race or identity of the perpetrator.

And if people think wearing a hood or burka is some legitimate cultural fashion statement, why don’t they also wear striped shirts with the word “burglar” written on them, just to make it clear that that they are fine, upstanding citizens just going about their business?

Sure, they might be innocently minding their own business, but why does everyone else have to roll the dice on their (hidden) intentions?